Bittersweet Reunion
by The Leaping Frog
Summary: He moved closer, grabbing hold of her arms, staring into her eyes, “Don’t be such a melodramatic, Gardner!”“Get off of me!” She screeched as she tried to break free from his grasp, but his grip was too tight. Téa Gardner x Seto Kaiba


A/N: This idea wouldn't leave me be until i had it written down and even now it's not the original plot i had in mind. It was going to be a multi-chapter fic but i think how it turned out has worked out well as a one shot.

Disclaimer: I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh!

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She turned round, feeling another person's presence in the room. She tried to avoid his gazing eyes, glaring at her with what she imagined would be pure hatred.

She trembled, feeling the intensity of the eyes staring at her. She couldn't take it, didn't want to understand it. She didn't even know why he was here or what he was doing or what he expected to achieve. She sighed.

"You left," his voice was still cold but the tone was icy. It sent a shiver down her bony spine.

"I had to," she muttered in a barely audible whisper. "There was nothing left for me back there."

"Why?"

"I would have thought you'd figured that out by now," she replied as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. She looked up at him, blue met icy as they made eye contact for the first time in eight years.

You wouldn't have thought that these two used to be an item. You wouldn't have thought that this was the first time they have seen or even heard from each other in eight years. Someone who didn't know them at all wouldn't have been able to guess, from them just standing there, that they used to love each other.

"You thought wrong," he retorted bitterly, "Why would I know why you left?"

She turned away, not wanting to look at him anymore, "Why are you here?" she asked in a strained voice, hoping that she would not cry in front of him. No, she wouldn't give him the satisfaction.

He looked down to the floor, staring at his black polished shoes. He looked up at the moment she turned round again, "Why do you want to know?"

"Damn it Kaiba!" She seethed, "Why do you have to be so difficult?"

"Since when did you go back to using 'Kaiba'? What's wrong with my name?" He crossed his arms, making himself look important but it failed.

"Nothing's wrong with your name Se- Kaiba! I just- don't think I should use it anymore, I don't have the right."

He scoffed, "What do you mean you don't have the right?"

She sighed, "You don't understand do you? After everything you still don't understand!"

"What's to understand? You weren't the only one to make the wrong decision. You're not the only one to make a mistake and you certainly won't be the last!"

She shook her head, "So you are admitting that you made a mistake too! Or are you too much of a coward to admit that even the great Seto Kaiba does wrong?"

He looked away, "I admit, what I did was wrong…"

"Wrong? Wrong! Seto, it was horrible! You destroyed everything; you ruined my life! I had nothing else after what you did! I chose you over my friends because I thought you loved me. I hurt them, they were crushed to hear that after all the years we had been friends, after everything we had been through together I chose you, their rival over them!"

"I know and I am sorry," he said, looking into her angry eyes again. Her eyes were filled with passion, angry passion directed at him. Years of bottled up anger and resentment being released now that he unscrewed the lid.

"Sorry? You're sorry? Sorry it's a bit late for apologies now Seto! Sorry is for when you accidentally borrow someone's vase and break it, sorry is when you break someone's mug. This, this isn't a sorry! It's too late. You've ruined everything…"

"Don't blame this all on me, Téa!" She flinched at her name being said by him, "It wasn't all down to me. I didn't force you to screw your friends over; you did that yourself. You chose me over them, and you can't accept that."

She shook her head violently as she stepped back away from him, "No, no that's not true. You're lying!"

"And again with the accusations," He said as he moved closer to her, "Really, Gardner it's getting old."

She quivered. Her knees felt weak and her heart was beating at a rapid rate, breathing was becoming strained and difficult, "Please…" She gasped through a raspy breath.

He moved closer, grabbing hold of her arms, staring into her eyes, "Don't be such a melodramatic, Gardner!"

"Get off of me!" She screeched as she tried to break free from his grasp, but his grip was too tight.

"Not until you listen," he snarled tightening his grip, "You are a coward for running away. You didn't like the mess you made so, instead of cleaning it up you left it for other's to deal with!"

"No, it wasn't like that…"

"Don't interrupt me!" He scowled, "You ran away from it all because you couldn't handle being the bad guy. You couldn't take the fact that you made the mistake, and you thinking you are the perfect friend thought that it wasn't possible for you to make mistakes…"

"I don't think I am perfect Kaiba…" She interjected again but closed her mouth when his glare intensified.

"No, but they did. They thought you were the good girl, the good friend, and the perfect friend. You are the one who is always there for them when they need you. You are the one who drops everything that _you _are doing to help them, without thinking how much it is hurting you. They _expect _you to be there for them all the time and what do they give you in return?"

"That's not fair!" She said a little too louder than she intended to, she had to defend them. If he was trying to say it was their fault than he had another thing coming, "They don't _expect_ me to do anything!"

"Is that so?" He said bitterly, not really believing her objection. "Then why don't they realise that by asking you to help them they are screwing you over?"

She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion, "What on earth are you going on about?"

"Did you ever achieve your dream?"

She let out a choked laugh, "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, did you ever achieve your dream to become a dancer?"

She shook her head, "I don't think that's any of your business."

"I make it my business."

She leant back, trying to loosen the grip he still had on her arms. As if sensing her need to distance herself from him he let go forcefully, causing her to loose her balance. Fortunately for her, she managed to regain her composure.

"You lost the right making my life your business the moment you betrayed my trust! The moment you destroyed my friend's lives…"

"They aren't your friends anymore though, are they?" Seto stated, "Tell me Téa, when was the last time they called? Wrote? E-mailed even? When was the last time you heard from them? Did they even try to stop you leaving? Did they try and get you back? They let you leave, Tea, without letting you give your side of events. They screwed you over."

"I don't blame them. I betrayed them. They never liked the idea of…_us_," She said the last word in a strain. Seto could see tears forming in her eyes but she quickly wiped them away before they could fall and humiliate her further, "'_No good will come out of this, Tea!'_ They said. They were right, no good did come out of it and I only have myself to blame. I didn't listen, I should have listened to them."

"So what are you saying?" Seto asked in disbelief, "That you regretted our time together?"

Téa shook her head, "No of course not, I have never regretted the time we spend together. I just wish things had been different, if we had been different people and not just two people from different circles. If my friends had been more supportive, if you had been more tolerant, if I had been a bit bolder, smarter and wiser than maybe non-of this would have happened. They _were_ right; no good did come out of it. Look at where we are now, standing here after eight years with nothing but hate and resentment…"

"Téa…"

"No, please let me finish," She said, holding up a hand to stop him from speaking anymore, "It's important that I get this out." She looked at him for reassurance before continuing, "Eight whole years has been wasted all because of petty, stupidity that had just got out of control. Eight _years _of my life, wondering how things would be if it were different. Would my friends be more tolerable and allowing to the men in my life, no matter whom it is. They let their prejudices and their own opinions lead them in this hate campaign against us and I couldn't stand it."

"All I wanted was to be happy with the man I loved but I couldn't do that and still have my friends. I couldn't have my cake and eat it too so I made it easier for them and myself. I burnt the cake; I burnt it to a crisp, making it taste foul. I put it in the oven and neglected it."

"I let it turn to charcoal. Too much sugar gives me a headache anyway, my …_friends_, their intention and heart was in the right place. They were trying to protect me, thought you were going to hurt me but they can't, or don't want to realise that I can protect myself. I let the cake go sour, but that's when I realised I took it so far that I couldn't eat it. I couldn't have you because I lost you."

"Téa, I…"

"Why did you come here? Why did you come and find me? Why now?"

He sighed, "I don't know the answer to those questions. I tried to figure out why when I was flying over here but the answer never came. Why I waited this long I do not know, I should have gone after you. Stopped you from getting on that plane but I let you go. I let you walk away; I let you walk out of my life. It didn't take me long to find out that I needed you, but it did take me a long time to admit to myself that I needed you. I was so filled with pride and arrogance, no wonder you left; I was horrible!"

She shook her head, "No, you weren't horrible. Proud, yes. Arrogant, most definitely but horrible, no. I saw a side to you that unfortunately; not many people get a chance to see. If only they had seen that side, the side that I saw than maybe, just maybe things would have turned out differently."

"I didn't want to show them that side of me, they never gave me the chance. They expected me to be cold and arrogant to them so I behaved how they wanted me to. They expected me to come out with rude comments and they fought back with theirs. They never gave me the chance to."

"Yeah, but you didn't make it easy for them to give you a chance though. You expected them to expect you to act that way. We gave you chances, but you threw them in our faces."

"I was young and foolish then, it was just a game to me."

She sighed, "Yugi was hit the hardest."

Seto gave her a puzzled expression but she continued.

"He was my best friend, he knew me better than any of the others could. He always made sure that I was looked after, always seemed to know if something was upsetting me and knowing when to press matters or just leave them alone. He was even supportive of my dance but worried when I wore myself out. When I told him that I was with you I could see how hurt he was in his eyes, how betrayed he felt but he was too shy, too kind to tell me what he really felt about it."

"He loved you," Seto stated plainly, jealously seeped through in his tone.

"I know," She replied looking back up at him, "But I didn't love him, not in the way he loved me anyway. The others were angry with me, said I was leading him on believing that something was there when I knew there wasn't. They said that I showed no affection or feelings for you, and they couldn't understand why I chose you over Yugi. My heart chose, I can't choose who I fall in love with. I can't force myself to love someone just to make them and others happy."

"What did Yugi say?"

"About what?"

"_Us?"_

"Oh," She said, looking down at the floor avoiding his eyes, "He didn't really say anything. He just sat there staring into space; he didn't even look at me. Kept avoiding my eye contact. He wouldn't even talk to me." She took a deep breath, "They shouted, told me I was being stupid and foolish. They said you were only using me to get to Yugi or that I was just using you for your money. I knew they didn't mean the part about the money, I could see the regret in their eyes when they said it but I left before they could apologise. Hearing it being said by people you thought were your friends even though you know they don't mean it still hurts."

Seto nodded, although he did not understand how or why her friends would treat her like that, "Why did they think you were only with me for my money? Did they not realise I would have caught on if you were?"

She looked up at him; "I was determined to go to New York to gain my dancing career. Although I worked hard to get to the standard they required and working illegally at Burger World in the evenings and at weekends I still didn't scrape up enough money to go. The money I earned at Burger World, most of it went into dance classes so I suppose when I said that I was with you, they jumped to the conclusion that I was only using you as a means to an end. To get the money to go to New York."

"But you didn't go to New York to dance, did you?" Seto stated plainly noticing the sad look that she was giving him, "Why did you come here of all places?"

She sighed, "I was offered a scholarship at one of the Dance Schools. They liked what they saw and decided to take me on despite me not being able to pay the tuition fees. However, that meant leaving you and my friends. It wasn't even the place I wanted to go to but I already had the visa and plane tickets ready. I stupidly declined it, thinking that I could get into a dance school in Japan, closer to home but I didn't. Then all the shit happened and by the end of it there was nothing left. I didn't have my friends anymore; I didn't have you so there was no reason keeping me here. I tried to gain my place back but they said that once I declined I couldn't change my decision. So with the plane tickets and visa allowing me to work in America I left. I packed my bags and left Domino for good not expecting to come back or to see anyone from there again. Until now…"

"Again, you're friends crushed your dream to dance. Why did you decline? Why did they let you?" He pressed, he knew he was pressing the buttons that made her tick, "If they were your friends they wouldn't have allowed you to stop the thing that made you happy. They wouldn't have allowed you to decline the place at the dance school."

She smirked, "Since when did you become the friendship expert? You are starting to sound like the old me."

"And that's such a bad thing? I've grown up. I realised that there is more to life than work and business. It's all down to you that I have realised the error of my ways."

She snorted, "I wouldn't take my advice, no matter what I do I end up angering or hurting someone. No matter what I did, it was never good enough for them. I wasn't the best duellist, nor was I the best at making everyone laugh. I wasn't the best at anything in the group. Well at dancing I was but when did they really pay attention to that? Friendship isn't what I made it out to be, I deceived you and for that I am sorry."

"They took you for granted and after you left, after they realised the full extent of what happened and what was said they regretted it. They realised that they didn't support you in the way that you supported them. They realised that you were not perfect and you did have your flaws, as does everyone else. They realised that people, including you make mistakes. They realised that the heart is a delicate matter and that when someone falls in love, they can't help who that person who they have fallen in love with is."

"And how would you know all of that? You hardly spoke to them, you hated them!"

"Wrong," he corrected, "I do not hate them, I have never hated them. I don't dislike them either. They are tolerable. I have spoken to them quite a few times in the past eight years, to try and understand what happened. They remember arguing, words being said but not meant and everything just going out of control. They didn't understand what had happened but by the time they got round to trying to fix it you had left. They didn't know where you had gone or why, but they wanted to find you. They looked everywhere in Japan trying to find you but they found no trace of you. Why they didn't put two and two together to make four I don't know. It would have been obvious where you went if they just opened their eyes but they didn't. They didn't try hard enough."

"Why did they reveal all this to you of all people? Or are you just making this up to try and making me feel better, because it's not working."

He sighed, "I went to see them, persistently until they gave me what I wanted. I wanted answers. I told them I had an idea of where you might have gone to but I didn't know for sure. I had a feeling you had come here; to try and salvage what was left of your dream. I was right."

"About me being here? Yes, you were right but you couldn't be more wrong about me salvaging what is left of my stupid dream. I gave up, what's the point in trying when you are going to fail."

"This isn't the Téa that I once knew, what happened to the one I fell in love with?"

She sighed, "She grew up Seto. She woke up to the truth about life, how wrong she was thinking that her friends were the most important people in here life. How wrong she was thinking that everything is achievable if you believe in yourself. Things are only achievable if you work hard and be the best, I worked hard but I didn't get what I wanted in life. Even now, I am working hard and for what? Just to keep myself going, keep myself alive. It's not even what I want to do but I am doing it to keep myself alive. Maybe some day I will achieve my dream just by believing it will happen, however I am certain I will be waiting a long time."

He shook his head, not believing the words that were coming out of this woman's mouth. She was once so full of life, love and happiness. It was as if all of that had been sucked out of her. "Why don't you come back to Domino? Come back with me."

She looked up at him and shook her head, "No, I can't go back there."

"Why not?"

"Because I can't Seto! I am not wanted there, if they wanted to find me they would have come to find me. I left for a reason Seto."

"And what reason would that be, because from what I have gathered so far that is not a good enough reason."

She turned away from him and shook her head; "I left because I made a choice, a choice that I never thought I could make. That day I realised something about myself that scared me."

"What are you going on about?"

She looked up, "I have always said that my friends would come first. My principle had always been to let nothing come between my friends and i… I let that happen. I let my heart come between my friends, I chose you over them and then when you ended it, I couldn't take it anymore…I had to leave."

Seto sighed as he walked over to her and pulled her closer to him. She could hear his heart beating through his dark silk shirt and chest, "I never meant to end it, I was foolish to do so. It was one of the things I regretted in life. When I couldn't find you, I was in despair. I blamed your so-called friends for your departure when really I was as much to blame as they were. I was scared of the commitment our relationship brought; I was scared of hurting you. I had enemies that were willing to murder the ones I love and I couldn't put you in that kind of danger so I ended it without thinking how much it would hurt you. I could also see what our relationship was doing to your friends, how it was destroying your friendship with your friends, which you held so dearly. I didn't want to be the one to come between you and your friends and making you choose between us because I didn't want you to end up resenting your friends or me. I truly am sorry."

She let out a shaky breath and turned round so her cheeks rested on his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist. "I know, I know you're sorry. I am too; I left without any consideration to the people around me, to the people that care about me. I was just so lonely and lost at the time that leaving seemed to be the only option. I was wrong, it only made it worse. I was as lost and alone here than I was back home. I was in a place I didn't know, where I knew no one and it was scary. I wanted to come back, but I was too scared to do that as well. So I managed to get a job and a small apartment until I worked things out. Turns out that working things out took longer than expected."

"Come back," He whispered in her ear, "Please, just come back to me"

She closed her eyes, "I don't know…"

"I need you, Téa. I need you more than anything. I've been so lost without you."

"You must have been lost for a pretty long time…"

Seto sighed, feeling a little twang of guilt that it took him this long to find her, "I was, and I am sorry I didn't find you sooner."

"I didn't exactly make myself easy to find."

"But it was obvious where you were."

She smiled, "That's true but even if you knew where I were, it would still take a long time to find me. This _is _a big city, you know it could take you a long time to track me down."

He smirked, "Yes, for anyone it would be hard to track someone down but you're forgetting who I am."

She laughed, "Ah, yes! The great Seto Kaiba can get anything he wants if he puts his money and mind to it!"

"I was determined to find you, if I have to pay people off to find you then so be it."

She stepped back and looked up at him, "Why were you so determined to find me?"

He sighed, "I spent so long thinking about the answer to that question myself. I was thinking about it too much that I realised I wasn't listening to my heart. All the years spent listening to my mind I forgot to listen to my heart. I ignored it as I was trained to do so by my stepfather. He taught me that to be a successful, powerful business man I had to stop listening to my heart if I were to get jobs done and make money. I learnt over time that I _should _listen to my heart if I were to find happiness. When you left it seemed like that happiness left, so I stopped listening to it hoping that the ache and pain would go away. I thought it did until I started to pay attention to it again. I was determined to find you because you are the only one who can help me listen to my heart, to make me a better person, for me to love."

"Oh Seto!" Téa cried as she moved towards him, closing the gap in between them. She wanted to be close to him, to smell his cologne. She had missed this over the years. She tried to get the same feeling as she did when she was in Seto's arms with other men she had met in her time alone in New York but no one came close. No one was good enough for her needs.

She tilted her head as he leaned in closer, wanting to close the gap between them completely. He could smell her sweet perfume as he leant him closer, teasing her by kissing her neck first but moving up with every touch until he met her lips. She moaned in delight as their lips met, their tongues swirling around in each other's mouths. Eight years of repressed passion for each other eight long years of waiting were showing in this one kiss. He put his hands on her hips, pulling her even close to him.

They gasped for breath as they pulled away from a kiss that seemed to last a long time. They both looked into each other's eyes, passion, lust, longing were swirling around their eyes as they saw what they felt reflected in the other's eyes.

He leaned forward again and his lips were now by the side of her ear.

"Come back with me," He whispered softly which made her tremble, "Come back to me."

"Seto…"

He kissed her again, this time with more passion and lust than before. She trembled slightly as she moaned allowing the kiss to become deeper.

He pulled away but their lips were barely inches apart.

"Please, come back to me," He whispered desperately, "I need you."

She closed her eyes as she nodded, "I need you too."

He kissed her again, this time roughly and stopping to move down towards the nape of her neck, teasing her somewhat as she moaned in satisfaction. She grabbed onto his shirt, tugging at it before undoing the first few buttons. He stopped and looked at her with a mix of lust and apprehension.

"Are you sure?"

She nodded, "You don't know how long I have been waiting for this."

He smirked before moving to kiss her more desperately and as they fell to the floor they became lost in lustful passion for each other that had been locked up for the past eight years.

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A/N: What do you think? Feedback is always appreciated:) 


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